Obedience Is Best - Greg Laurie Daily Devotion - August 17/18

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Saturday, August 17, 2019
Obedience Is Best

“What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22 NLT)

When God told King Saul to completely destroy the Amalekites, including King Agag, Saul didn’t do it. Later, in the book of Esther, we find Mordecai dealing with the wicked Haman, a descendant of King Agag.

Saul thought that because he had plundered the Amalekites’ livestock to sacrifice to the Lord, everything would be okay. But the prophet Samuel told him, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22 NLT).

God told Saul to do something, and he didn’t do it. Sometimes the Lord will speak to our hearts and tell us to give up something that is taking over our lives, something we regard as an innocent pleasure that is becoming something of an addiction. It could be alcohol or some other thing. But that thing or that pursuit is becoming more important to us than God.

Maybe God is telling you to break off a relationship with someone who is pulling you down spiritually, someone who, whenever you’re around them, just pulls you down. Or worse yet, you’re the one who’s pulling someone else down.

Maybe the Lord is speaking to your heart and telling you to take a bold step of faith and do something you’ve never done, something way out of your comfort zone, like starting a Bible study at work or engaging someone with the gospel.

Whatever it may be, if the Lord tells you to do it, then do it. See what God will do. But don’t think that going to church or putting a little more in the offering will take the place of what God really wants from you, which is your obedience.

The story of Johnny Cash’s life and spiritual struggles offers hope to anyone who has had trouble staying on the straight and narrow path—and reminds us that God redeems broken lives and makes them whole again. My new book, Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon is a fascinating look at a unique and talented musician and follower of Christ!